Intern Acceptance Rate Up; Offer, Conversion Rates Fall

The acceptance rate for interns increased from last year, while the offer and conversion rates both dropped, according to results of NACE’s 2018 Internship & Co-op Survey.

In a strong college hiring market, offer rates would be high for intern and co-op hires, with low acceptance rates. This year’s rates may signal a drop in the hiring market, but they could also be due to a high number of eligible interns reported by respondents this year.

In 2018, the offer rate for interns is 59 percent, the acceptance rate is 77.3 percent, and the conversion rate is 45.6 percent. (See Figure 1.) In comparison to last year, both the offer rate and conversion rate decreased while the acceptance rate increased slightly for interns.

Meanwhile, the offer rate for co-ops is 34.6 percent, the acceptance rate is 80.3 percent, and the conversion rate is 27.8 percent. (See Figure 2.) All are down from last year, but show similarities to the rates in 2016.

Data for the 2018 Internship & Co-op Survey report were collected from November 8, 2017, to March 2, 2018, from NACE employer members; there were 309 respondents representing 29.1 percent of all eligible respondents. The survey report will be available later this spring.